Between streamlining bureaucracy for more efficient public service, protecting welfare of public sector workers

SENATOR Christopher “Bong” Go expressed his support for efforts to streamline the bureaucracy to ensure a more efficient, responsive and reliable government. However the senator stressed that the welfare of the government employees who may be affected by such initiative must also be considered.

Go made the statement following the proposal of the Department of Budget and Management to “rightsize” the bureaucracy to eliminate redundancies in government agencies and their overlapping functions, helping the government to save up to PhP14.8 billion annually.

“Sinusuportahan ko ang mga hakbang para ma-streamline ang burukrasya upang maging mas mabilis, maayos, at maaasahan ang serbisyong nakukuha ng mga tao,” expressed Go.

“Ngunit sa lahat ng ito, dapat ding ikonsidera ang kapakanan ng mga kawani ng gobyerno na posibleng mailipat, mapalitan, o matanggalan ng mandato o trabaho,” he continued.

Under the said proposal, DBM will decide which of the 187 government agencies and government-owned and -controlled corporations may be streamlined by merging, restructuring or abolition.

The proposal also came after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. signed his first executive order, reorganizing the Office of the President and abolishing the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) and the Office of the Cabinet Secretary.

Acknowledging the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Senator Go reiterated the need to protect the welfare of government employees who may be affected by the rightsizing.

“When it comes to rightsizing, there should be a careful balance between eliminating redundancies and inefficiencies in the bureaucracy in order to provide public service that can help uplift the lives of Filipinos, while at the same time, protecting the welfare of public sector workers,” Go underscored.

“We must make sure that government workers who may be affected are given proper compensation, due process in accordance with civil service rules and other regulations, and when deemed necessary, alternative employment opportunities to start anew especially amid these trying times,” he continued.

Meanwhile, the lawmaker also emphasized that he will continue pushing for measures that will improve the delivery of public services and eradicate corruption as part of his many efforts to help the new administration and continue what former president Rodrigo Duterte has started for the betterment of the country.

He recently refiled his E-governance Bill which shall mandate the government to establish an integrated, interconnected, and interoperable information and resource-sharing and communications network spanning the entirety of the national and local government, an internal records management information system, an information database, and digital portals for the delivery of public services.

Given how the digital age has considerably changed the government, the measure likewise pushes for the digitization of paper-based and other traditional modes of workflows for a more efficient and transparent public service.

“Kaakibat naman ng layunin ng bagong administrasyon na ayusin ang burukrasya ay ang mga panukalang batas na aking ipinaglalaban ngayon. Isa na rito ang E-governance Bill na ang hangarin ay mabawasan ang red tape gamit ang teknolohiya. Kasama rin diyan ang ating patuloy na laban kontra korapsyon na pangunahing sanhi ng pagkasayang ng ating public resources,” he noted.

“Sa kabuuan, suriin nating mabuti ang mga hakbang na ating gagawin upang balanseng malutas ang mga problema sa loob ng gobyerno at maproteksyunan din ang kabuhayan ng lahat ng mga Pilipino. Dapat walang magutom lalo na sa panahon ngayon,” he concluded.